Voxbone Provides iNums to Burning Man Attendees

Voxbone's iNum service gives subscribers a single number that can reach them no matter where in the world they or their callers are. INums use the recently created ITU country code +883, which means callers in any country can use the same number to reach the subscriber. Subscribers can likewise have calls to the number directed to them wherever they happen to be. They might even be in the middle of the Nevada desert – say, at the upcoming Burning Man festival.

TokBox Video Conferencing Adds Online Collaboration Through EtherPad Tie-Up

From the start, TokBox had real possibilities as a communication tool for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. The free service offered users the ability to make video calls to one another using just a browser, Web cam and perhaps headset (to decrease echo). Initially, though, the San Francisco startup seemed more interested in appealing to consumer than business users. Now TokBox has moved to exploit its business potential. A newly announced tie-up combines its video conferencing service with the equally easy-to-use online document-sharing service of EtherPad.

VoIP Central to FCC Wireless Inquiries Under Obama

It's clear that the FCC's emphasis has changed dramatically under President Obama. Most notably, the agency has become a lot more serious about increasing openness and competition in the telecommunications industry. One part of its effort is a strong push for network neutrality in general – that is, for mandating that Internet providers treat all traffic equally, to legally prevent them from blocking or degrading services that compete with theirs. Another part is a focus on the mobile communications business in particular. VoIP will be central to that part of the effort.

JAJAH Launches SIP Trunking With Microsoft OCS Deal

SIP trunking brings a number of benefits to small and medium-sized businesses. Incoming and outgoing calls travel over the company's Internet connection to and from the provider's facilities. That means there is no need to buy separate voice and data lines from phone companies. Calls between the company's different branches or sites are typically free. And long-distance and overseas calls are usually quite cheap, since they're traveling over the provider's backbone IP network.

GIPS Codec Now Powers Yahoo Video Calling

When it comes to real-time Internet communication, quality is always an issue. Internet connections are so inconsistent they can turn talk into gibberish. It takes sophisticated technology to make Internet conversations sound consistently good. The challenges are even greater with Internet video calling. The quality of both images and sound has to be good, and the two must also be in sync. That's why companies that can afford it pay lots of money for custom video equipment connected over private IP links.

Codecs are key to making Internet voice and video work. These pieces of software, embedded in physical phones or Internet calling applications, process the audio and video for delivery over IP connections. Among other things, codecs adjust for different levels of Internet bandwidth between callers, and compensate for delay, inconsistent delivery and loss of packets carrying the voice or video streams.

INums: Staying in Touch While Changing Phone Numbers 20 Times

People who move a fair amount in their lives have trouble staying in touch, especially by phone. Every time they get a new address, they get a new phone number. That makes it hard for all but their closest friends to keep track of them. A recent Voxbone survey showed how much of a problem that can be over time. The survey found that some 26 percent of respondents had had more than 20 phone numbers in their lives. And 70 percent had lost contact with people as a result of changing phone numbers.

Welcome to VoIP Evolution

Welcome to VoIP Evolution, a new Web publication reporting on the future of voice and video communication. The road to that future starts with VoIP technology, which lets voice calls travel over Internet protocol connections. But VoIP is evolving into multiple technologies that will radically transform how we communicate. Among other things, this transformation will lead to the merging of the Internet and the traditional telephone network. VoIP Evolution will bring readers the latest news on how these technologies and transformations will change their lives.